In early November 2023, a tribune initiated by a French feminist organization named ‘La Parole Des Femmes’ (Women’s Voices) platformed a number of French female public figures to call for the recognition of the October 7th attacks by Hamas and other armed groups as a feminicide, an attack in which Israeli women were targeted specifically because of their gender, although there remains no concrete evidence about the rape and sexual abuse allegations to this day.
By the end of November, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has announced two thirds of the 14 000 casualties in Gaza at the time are women and children. “That is two mothers killed every hour and seven women every two hours”, declared Sima Sami Bahous, the Agency’s executive director.
Since the situation has dramatically worsened for civilians in Gaza, including women, Detailed reports from international institutions and eyewitness accounts have abounded[1]; the gendered aspect of the humanitarian crisis will be briefly summarized below.
In the latest siege, 27 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza, including the Strip's largest medical facility, Al-Shifa, were partially or completely destroyed. As a result of a systematic assault on reproductive rights, miscarriages amongst Gazan women went up by 300%. Pregnant women are forced to give birth without peridural anesthesia, while gynecologic care is absent. Gazans are suffering starvation so much that mothers struggle to produce milk to feed their infants, and other milk alternatives are scarce due to the siege. Death by malnutrition is now spreading, more acutely in northern Gaza where aid is almost entirely precluded from reaching Palestinians.
In the immediate future, the children of Gaza will face even greater challenges obtaining sustenance. Following a recent Israeli airstrike that resulted in the deaths of seven aid workers, numerous humanitarian organizations have declared their intention to halt operations, further exacerbating the scarcity of resources. According to recent estimates by UN Women, 70% of casualties are women and children, which also constitute the vast majority of the 1.9 million displaced.[2]
Another aspect concerns reports of sexual abuse and torture against Gazan women by Israeli soldiers[3], as well as the poor treatment of female Palestinian prisoners. Since October 7th, Israel has imprisoned hundreds of Palestinian women from Gaza and the West Bank without any due process. Numerous reports have emerged detailing instances of inhuman and degrading treatment, including denial of basic necessities such as menstruation pads, food, and medicine, along with severe physical beatings.
Accounts of Palestinian women detained in Gaza being subjected to particularly harsh conditions, including being confined in a cage exposed to rain and cold weather without access to sustenance, have been reported.[4] The OHCHR has also reported that Bas du formulairePalestinian women and girls have been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children[5], which can be accounted for via many videos that have widely circulated on social media. Haut du formulaire
Redefining Feminism: Bridging Global Divides
Building on a pattern of grievances, the critique of women of color centers on the scant attention Western feminists have given to the humanitarian crisis and the plight of Palestinian women, sexual minorities, and Palestinians at large, highlighting a glaring oversight.
From what I have been observing, this type of cognitive dissonance pushes women of the Global South and women of color living in the West to take their distance from identifying with feminism when it so blatantly disregards their own survival, systematically dehumanizes them, and is often used against their people to justify foreign interventionism and wars.
The dissonance may stem from the fact that Palestinian women do not neatly fit into the narrow lens through which many Western feminists view and evaluate their compatibility with their own values and morals. Palestinian women are often labeled as "too religious" because they do not conform to the Eurocentric definition of liberation, such as not considering the hijab as a symbol of oppression, for example. They also challenge the notion of Eurocentric liberation by valuing their cultural and religious identities.
Additionally, Palestinian women face criticism for having "too many children," as their reproductive choices are perceived as a form of resistance against settler-colonialism. They are labeled as "too radical" because they prioritise anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism in their struggle, diverging from the mainstream feminist narrative.
Palestinian women frequently emphasize community solidarity and may not exclusively articulate their demands as a fight against patriarchy. They tend not to focus on issues like equal pay or contraceptive rights. Their liberation struggle challenges the prevailing power structures, which, frankly, benefit Western feminists, rendering their cause less appealing to some within mainstream feminist circles.
Gaza represents a tragically missed opportunity for Western/liberal feminism to redeem itself by broadening its critique of the patriarchal, violent state apparatus accountable for feminicides and the impunity of sexual violence in the Global North. This includes addressing the security-military industrial complex that arms and provides diplomatic and economic support to Israel’s military efforts in Gaza.
With the upcoming EU and US elections on the horizon, it is imperative for Western feminists to forge genuine alliances with Palestinian women and other women of color from the Global South. This demands a deep understanding of the grievances that many hold and the reasons they may find challenging to align with mainstream feminism. It is critical to contextualise the history of Western feminism, acknowledging how the feminist agenda has frequently been appropriated to justify wars, foreign interventions, and atrocities.